((I wrote up a creation myth for pre-Hutt people of Tatooine this way I won’t always be filling in cultural gaps by stealing from Dune. I might do more about pre-Hutt Tatooine if anyone would like! This story in particular is about the destruction of old Tatooine, the planet being forced to adapt, the creation of both the Raiders and the Jawa, and how humans play into it.))
First there was Grandmother. Born from the stars and the moons she flooded the world. In time she gave birth to her children. She made the land, the plants, the animals, and the first stewards of the land; the ancients.The Ancients loved her and her other children and strove to live alongside them, for a time things where good.Â
It’s unknown when the gods where attacked but a dark evil brought the sun down upon them and burnt the world into glass. Of the Ancients few survived and they all began searching for Grandmother. Her eldest searched for her from the burnt surface, his rage breaking glass and flinging it in all directions. The middle child looked for her under ground, her reclusive nature hiding her from her brother’s fury. The Dragon didn’t search at all. He called his siblings fools and said that if Grandmother managed to survive she would call upon them when she needed them.
In time the eldest rendered the glass into sand and the daughter found it safe enough to plead with the youngest of her siblings, The Dragon. Her younger brother could fly and surly spot Grandmother from the air. While fond of his elder sibling he refused. He would stay upon his hoard from the old world until Grandmother called him.
Grandmother never called him. Instead it was something this world had never seen. The creature was of the eldest’s size and hid from the fury of the world like the middle child. She was human. Human was lost and doomed unless someone took pity upon her, and so The Dragon did. He approached her looking like one of her own and brought her back to his home.
Not long after they were wed and had three beautiful daughters. One with skin as dark as the night sky and eyes of light, as she grew she found she could create plants that survived in this new and harsh world. The second had skin as white as the sun and hair so long it brushed the sand, she made creatures large and small that called the wasteland their home. The third seemed to be just like her mother, brown skin, pale hair, and eyes dark enough to behold her sister’s creations during the mid-day sun
Times where wonderful, until one day their aunt beat upon the door. Made small by her time underground her voice was larger than life itself as she yelled to them. Their father’s brother was coming to kill them. His jealousy had consumed him and he wanted their lives to sacrifice for Grandmother. He had convinced himself that blood of the innocent would bring about her return.
To show his gratitude The Dragon gave his sister his cloak and instructed her never to remove it for their brother could not see her while she wore it. While she desired to stay and fight for him The Dragon eventually convinced her to leave and prepare a place for the children to hide. Unfortunately, they never made it to her moving fortress.
When his brother attacked The Dragon flew from his home into the sands at full force. The battle was long and blows where traded equally for days on end. In time the elder grew weary and decided to attack someone he could harm with ease. While The Dragon was distracted he flung his spear into the heart of The Human. The Dragon’s rage was immediate and all consuming. So infuriated was he that he did not flinch when his brother ripped his wings from him, all he desired to do was gain revenge.
While The Human lay dying her daughters crowded around her, they wept tears they didn’t have to spare as they spoke to her one last time. When she closed her eyes for the last time Grandmother appeared to her. She still saw over this world but the attempt on her life had hurt her so severely that she could no longer speak to the living like she could before. And her power was weakening still. Knowing that her time was limited she asked if the human would allow her to change her. To bind the last of her power with this human so that she may always be with this world. The Human agreed for she was kind and understood that every world requires a tender.
The daughters watched in awe as their mother faded into water and told them that she now would be what the remnants of the old world had searched so desperately for. While she could not be there to hold them she would always be within them. And so, she became Grandmother in the stead of the one that came before.
Her eldest two daughters scattered about the planet making life forms that knew of their mother’s sacrifice and stored her water in their roots and bodies.
The youngest sought out her people to tell them of her kindness. To her horror, she found them enslaved by their own kind and without even names to call their own. It was then that she realized her power. “You, you have eyes like my eldest sister. You shall be Darklighter. You have hair like my middle sister. Whitesun shall be your name. Your dreams have shown you my arrival so you will be Fardreamer.” She gave names to all who approached her. Dunerider, Sandskimmer, and Waterseer where all gifted names. “What about me?” Asked the final child of the group. “I have no name nor family to share one with.” “You child,” She smiled. “You shall carry my father’s name. You will be Skywalker.”
She led her people to a newfound freedom amongst the sands, taught them of her sister’s creations, and helped them establish lives within the canyon and caves that dotted the land. Far from the eyes of their masters, should they ever return.Â
In time she left to seek out her father but part of her always remained with the humans. Should someone be without a name they would call to her in dreams or prayer and without fail she named them as well.
As for her father, she was unable to free him from his rage. To this day should he see his brother or his people he leaps upon them immediately with the intent to kill. His only solace is when he finds a pool of water. The Dragon will calm and stare into the eyes of his wife until the water is disturbed or he is attacked. During these moments his youngest will sit with him, telling him of her wanderings and the people whom she’s helped.
Perhaps he can hear her. Perhaps he is lost. But still she speaks to him.
